OXFORD, Miss. – The Navy rifle team fell on the road on Saturday at fellow Great American Rifle Conference foe, Ole Miss by a 4,629 to 4,610 score. Freshman Dan Jonas (Allentown, N.J.) led the Mids with an aggregate score of 1,152.

Navy began Saturday’s competition on a strong note as it led after smallbore by nine points, 2,285 to 2,276. Jonas led the Mids in the smallbore competition as he shot a 577, six points higher than Navy’s duo of upperclassmen Steven Frazier (Sr., Macdonough, Ga.) and Alex Berry (Jr., Greensboro, N.C.), who registered 571-point scores. Jodi Cull-Host (So., Los Alamos, N.M.) and Zach Gibson (So., Montrose, Colo.) rounded out Navy’s counters with scores of 566 and 563, respectively.

In air rifle action, the Mids fell victim to a hot Ole Miss team that broke its school record with a 2,353-point output. Cull-Host and Gibson tied for top honors on Navy with 585-point showings each. Berry gave the Mids three shooters in the 580s with a 580-point effort. Jonas and Frazier were the final two shooters for Navy and posted scores of 575 and 565, respectively. As a team, the Mids totaled a 2,325-point score in air rifle

“Today was not our day,” said Navy head coach Bill Kelley. “We had a nine-point lead after smallbore so that was encouraging, but they came out and shot a team record in air rifle and got the win. We didn’t hit our shots down the stretch in air rifle and that was the difference. Tomorrow, we’ll turn the page and look to knock off Memphis.”

Navy will be back in action on Sunday with another GARC league match at Memphis. The Mids and Tigers will begin action at 8:00 am, CT.